Virtual Reality
by Poesia-Raro
Summary: AU. What happens when the world of the actual CID gets exchanged with the world of CID fanfiction. And what follows. (NOTE: PLEASE NOTE THE GENRE. THIS IS INTENDED AS A COMEDY. NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. THIS IS A SPOOF, NOT A BASH!)


**::/Virtual Reality/::**

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A/N: I think the story speaks for itself. So I will spare you guys the horror and let you go straight to reading. ;) By the way, I don't own any of the song lyrics used here, they're all from the musical _Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street._

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The afternoon sun seemed to have some kind of personal vendetta against the residents of the great city of Mumbai that day. It was blazing with a vengeance, throwing heat against all exposed surfaces. Needless to say, it was becoming quite a bother.

Unless you were safe inside the air-conditioned confines of the CID bureau, that is.

Within those hallowed halls, ACP Pradyuman was pacing restlessly back and forth in his cabin. His scowl seemed permanently burned into his face, as it had been for so many years that people had lost count. But then again, no one had seen him smile for ages, and everyone had gotten quite used to it by now.

All of a sudden, the silence was shattered by a piercing, deafening wail. "WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

"Not again!" ACP Pradyuman barked, wincing and shutting his ears reflexively before storming out of his cabin. "Shreya! Nikhil!" he bellowed. "Where on earth are you two? Shut him up! He's giving me a headache!"

"Oh God, oh God," babbled Shreya as she dashed at top speed through the corridors, Nikhil at her heels. "Of all the times for Abhi sir to not be here!" She skidded to a halt outside a large glass door and stumbled into the room, gasping for breath. Her face took on a highly distressed expression as she rushed towards the massive structure in the middle of the room. "Oh, Daya sir, please don't cry! Pleeeeaaaase?" she cooed, gesturing frantically to Nikhil to go to the other side of the enormous cradle in which a hulking six-foot-two man in teddy bear pyjamas was flailing his limbs as he howled his head off.

"_Easy now, hush sir hush, don't distress yourself..."_ Nikhil sang tunelessly as he hurriedly grabbed the handle that was on his side of the cradle. Across from him, Shreya grabbed the other, and both of them pulled and heaved from either side, rocking the huge cradle. "I think he's hungry," Nikhil hissed to Shreya, who glared at him. "Shut up, fool. Abhi sir fed him just an hour ago!"

"Where _is_ he, by the way?" Nikhil now had to practically shout to be heard over Daya's incessant wailing. Shreya grinned. "Where do you think?"

Sure enough, as they were speaking, Abhi was just coming out of his favourite room in the bureau. No sooner had he stepped out the door, however, than a hand grabbed his wrist with a tinkle of bangles. "M-must you r-r-really... g-go?" Tarika asked, sliding her delicate figure into the doorway next to him and looking pitifully at him through her tear-filled eyes. She sniffed. "Y-you kn-know I c-c-can't stay away from you for a s-single m-m-minute."

Abhi smiled, reaching up and taking her face in his hands. "Don't worry, baby, I'll be back before you know it." He leaned in and gave her a long hearty kiss before pulling out of her arms with some difficulty and striding off down the hallway. She watched him go, tears pouring down her face.

"Mamma?" a voice said from down below, and Tarika felt someone tugging at the wispy pink chiffon saree she was wearing. Looking down, she smiled faintly. "Oh, Abhilasha. What is it, love?"

A dusky little girl about six years old, with long silky hair and beautiful shiny eyes, blinked up at her. "Addie won't let me read with her."

"Is that so, now?" Tarika asked, following her second daughter down the corridor to the girls' room. "Addie!" she called as she opened the door. "What are you reading?"

Aditi looked up from the laptop. Her hair, even longer than Abhilasha's, swept over her arms as she did so. "Look, Mamma," she said eagerly. "New Abhirika stories! And each one more romantic than the other," she gushed. She, like all her younger sisters, had inherited their father's prodigious intelligence. Indeed, at the age of eight, Aditi was smarter than most eighteen-year-olds.

Tarika gave her eldest daughter a fake smile. "That's lovely, dear." She sat down, sighing miserably, and within a minute Abhira and Abhirupa were at their mother's knees, their identical faces peering up into hers. "Mamma?" Abhira questioned. "Why sad?" Abhirupa wanted to know.

Before Tarika could answer, a child's cry rang through the air, and she hurried to the crib in the corner, where baby Abhiya was demanding attention. "Shh, love, Mamma's here," Tarika said soothingly, scooping her youngest daughter up and cuddling her. "Rajat!" she yelled through the open door, and within seconds a silent shadow darkened the doorway. "Here, handle the girls for a bit, will you? I can't stand it anymore, I have to go to Abhi straightaway!"

Rajat barely had time to nod before the baby was thrust into his arms and he was surrounded by his eager nieces, all of whom were talking nineteen to the dozen. As their mother disappeared through the doorway, her jewellery tinkling as she ran off, Rajat sat down on the floor as the girls snuggled up to him, chattering away like a brood of squirrels. All he could do in response, however, was smile sadly around at them.

Nikhil and Shreya, meanwhile, were still having a dreadful time trying to calm the hysterical Daya down. Thankfully, their angel of deliverance had arrived. "Get back, you two!" Abhi shouted over the din, and Nikhil and Shreya were only too glad to jump aside to let him through. Bending down over the crib, Abhi smiled down at Daya, reaching down to pat his cheeks. "It's ok, my little man. Big bro's here. _Easy now, hush boy hush, don't distress yourself_," he sang, and even the birds outside the window fell silent to listen to his voice. Indeed, time itself seemed to freeze in its tracks. _"Slow boy slow, time's so fast, now goes quickly, see, now it's past, soon will come, soon will last, wait."_

As Abhi sang, Daya quietened down, looking wide-eyed up at the older man with his lip quivering. "There, now, that's like a good boy," Abhi crooned, patting Daya's head affectionately. That elicited a gurgling laugh from the latter, and Abhi laughed as well, tickling him under the chin. "Ale le le le! Such a cute widdle baby bwo I have."

"Abhi, Abhi," Daya said happily, clapping his hands and beaming. He held out his arms, and Abhi smoothly vaulted over the side of the cradle. Daya put his head on the latter's lap, snuggling against him, and drifted off to sleep with his thumb in his mouth as Abhi patted his head and hummed a lullaby.

"Abhi!"

"_Shhh!"_ Abhi hissed, throwing a glare over his shoulder at his wife, who stood in the doorway, her breathing heavy and ragged from having run all the way. "Shut up, woman, can't you see the child's sleeping?"

Tarika looked shattered. "B-but..." she stuttered, tears filling her eyes. "D-d-don't y-you w-want m-m-me?" She stepped into the room, the silky material of her pink saree threatening to slip off her slender shoulder as she did so. "H-h-he's m-more im-important to y-you than m-me now?" She pointed a shaking finger at Daya, who shifted slightly in his sleep and nestled closer against Abhi. "H-how c-c-could you!" She burst into tears, falling to her knees on the floor.

As she fell, so did the layer of chiffon that was draped over her shoulder, and Abhi bit his lip. His eyes flitted back and forth between the sleeping Daya and weeping Tarika for a few minutes before he finally sighed heavily and, with exceeding gentleness, lifted Daya's head off his lap and laid it back on the pillow, careful not to disturb him. "Sleep well, little brother," he said, patting Daya's head once more before swiftly vaulting back over the side of the cradle, landing so smoothly on his feet that it would have made Puss in Boots green with envy.

Before Tarika even realised it, he was standing before here. _"Come here, my love, nothing to fear, my love,"_ she heard, and the next thing she knew, she was swept right off the ground. She blushed scarlet as Abhi carried her out of the room, nudging the door shut with his foot on the way out. The only time they paused along the way was to make sure Rajat was taking care of the girls, and then there was no interruption.

Once they were safely in their room, Abhi deposited Tarika onto her place of honour, and she blushed a brilliant crimson as he crawled slowly towards her. _"I feel you, Tarika," _he sang, and Tarika shivered, goosebumps rising on her skin as he approached. _"And one day... I'll steal you..."_ She covered her face with her hands, and he slowly pulled them away, moving closer and closer. He was practically on top of her now. _"Till I'm with you then, I'm with you there... Sweetly buried in your curly hair..."_ He bent down and buried his face in her curls, and she blushed multiple shades of pink and red as he continued where they had left off earlier.

"Rajat uncle, Rajat uncle!" Abhilasha shouted, bouncing up and down in circles around the aforementioned man. "I'm bored!"

Rajat smiled faintly down at her, then gestured to her to wait. Pulling out his mobile phone, he sent a message, and with great difficulty got all the girls to settle down quietly before sitting down himself. Baby Abhiya was on his lap, drinking from her bottle. "What's going on?" Aditi asked, and Rajat shook his head. _I have a surprise for you all,_ he signed, and sure enough, a few minutes later there was a loud, cheery laugh, and a brightly dressed man in a clown's costume bounded into the room. Thankfully, however, his face wasn't painted in the frighteningly garish style typical to clowns.

"Hello there!" Freddy said merrily, smiling down at the girls, who cheered and applauded as he proceeded to do their favourite tricks, most of which included him falling down spectacularly with a wide variety of elaborate gestures and comical facial expressions. The girls laughed till their stomachs hurt, and Rajat merely smiled, though in his eyes there was something more like sorrow as he watched Freddy's antics.

A while later, once the girls had been tucked in for their afternoon naps, Rajat made his way to the forensic lab. Dr. Salunkhe was there, of course, pacing back and forth and muttering to himself. Rajat tapped on the door to make his presence felt, and the forensic doctor abruptly about-turned. "Ah, there you are, Rajat." There was a manic sort of glint in his eyes, the kind that Rajat usually associated with very complex mental processes. "Look, I'm going mad here, so you can tell your boss he can solve the case himself!"

_Which boss?_ Rajat signed wearily, and Dr. Salunkhe snorted. "Good point. But I meant Pradyuman."

"What about me?" ACP Pradyuman demanded suspiciously as he strode into the lab, glaring at Rajat and Dr. Salunkhe. The latter groaned and rolled his eyes. "Good heavens, man, are you incapable of entering any room quietly?!"

"Are _you_ incapable of talking to anyone politely?" the ACP shot back at once, and Rajat looked nervously back and forth between the two older gentlemen as they plunged into their usual heated argument. When the topic diverted to Abhi and Tarika, though, he was forced to intervene.

"He's ruining her life, that's what he is!" Dr. Salunkhe was yelling. "Did you forget how she nearly died while delivering Abhiya?"

"But she _didn't_ die, did she?" ACP Pradyuman bellowed. "And they're perfectly happy together! What the hell is your problem, Salunkhe?"

"That's not the point-" the doctor screeched in response, and Rajat blocked out the rest of the increasingly violent conversation, discreetly beating a hasty retreat when neither of the seniors were looking. Once he was safely out of the line of fire, he leaned against the wall and sighed, shaking his head sadly. Never had his voice been really heard within these walls... not even when he had actually had a voice to use. Now, his hands had to do all the talking for him- for those who cared to notice.

Little did he know, however, that his days of invisibility were soon to end... as soon as the people climbing over the bureau wall at the moment succeeded in finding a way to get inside.

"See anything?" hissed a girl's voice, and her companion, who was perched on top of the wall, frowned as he quickly scanned the surroundings. "Nothing. The coast is clear." He carefully climbed down, kicking away from the wall as he landed in the parking lot of the bureau. "C'mon," he called, and soon enough the girl was by his side. Letting out a great breath, she pulled off the motorcycle helmet she had on, smoothing her braided hair as she did so.

"Phew! Another minute and I'd have died of suffocation in there," she commented. Her face was plain, with a dusting of prominent freckles across her nose and cheekbones, and she wore glasses through which she blinked darkly lined eyes. "Is it just me or is this place much quieter than we thought?"

"No kidding." The boy pulled off his helmet as well, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight. He was not what one would call handsome, though there was a certain mischievous sort of sweetness in his face. His features were ordinary and he had the typical messy hair of his generation. The most noticeable thing about him, however, was three pale scars on his right cheek, standing out starkly against his darkly tanned skin. It appeared as though he had been slashed by some particularly violent animal. Both of them were dressed similarly in T-shirts, black cargo pants and combat boots, though the boy's T-shirt was orange and the girl's was grey.

"So where do we go from here again?" the boy asked, glancing questioningly at the girl, who rolled her eyes. "We've been over this a million times by now, Scarface." She adjusted her glasses and cast a cursory glance around the parking lot. "We wait for Maams to give us the signal, following which we sneak in there-" she pointed to the back entrance of the bureau "-and find whoever needs rescuing, and bust 'em out of there while avoiding violence as far as possible."

Scarface gave her an impish grin. "I'm betting the last part was your input, Freckles." He nudged her in the ribs. "Else Mamu wouldn't have bothered."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Freckles said teasingly, twirling the end of her braid around her finger. "Maams has been feeling the _luuuuurve_ a lot more ever since we started planning this whole thing." She leaned her head on his shoulder as she gave a dreamy expression, batting her eyelashes and clasping her hands, and Scarface had to stuff his knuckles in his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. "Shut up, Wise Girl!" he chortled, shoving her playfully off him even as both of them shook with suppressed laughter. "You're gonna get us caught before we even get in there!"

Freckles smirked at him, pulling a mobile phone from her pocket. "On the contrary, partner." She showed him something on the mobile screen, and his scarred face lit up. "Excellent. Let's get down to business." He was about to move towards the back entrance to the bureau, but Freckles suddenly grabbed his wrist. "Wait. Do you hear something?"

"Huh?"

"Listen." Scarface obliged, and sure enough, he could hear what sounded like a faint female voice. "Sounds like it's coming from over there," he said, peering in the direction, and both of them stealthily made their way towards the voice, which grew clearer and more audible as they approached. It was a woman's voice, singing from-

"The tree?" Freckles looked befuddled. "There's a girl _inside the tree?"_

"OK, now is probably a good time to be on our guard," Scarface whispered to her as they cautiously approached the tree. The woman's song was now filling the air.

"_Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird, how is it you sing? How can you jubilate, sitting in cages, never taking wing?"_

There was a clear note of sadness in the voice, and Freckles felt her heart go out to this invisible singer at once. When the song continued, however, it was in a man's voice. _"Outside, the sky awaits, beckoning, beckoning, just beyond the bars... how can you remain, staring at the rain, maddened by the stars?"_

The girl's voice took up the song once more, this time with her distress clear in her tone. _"Green finch and linnet bird, nightingale, blackbird, teach me how to sing... If I cannot fly, let me sing..."_

Freckles met Scarface's gaze- he looked as confused as she felt. "There's two of 'em?" he mouthed, and her freckled face set in a resolute expression as she raised a hand and knocked on the wood of the tree, the hollow sound echoing. The voices fell silent at once, and Freckles tentatively spoke. "Um... hello? Anybody in there?"

There was a pause, and then the woman's voice spoke up softly. "Who's that?"

"Uh..." Freckles gave Scarface a frantic look, and he jumped in. "It's... uh... well, people call us Scarface and Freckles. Who're you?"

The man's voice sighed. "Once upon a time, we were called Vineet and Purvi. Now, well, no one talks to us anymore."

"But how come you're... I mean... in the tree?" Freckles blurted out, seemingly unable to restrain herself, but the invisible speakers didn't seem to take offense. "We were turned into spirits and locked away in here, years ago," Purvi replied sadly. "I guess everyone just forgot about us. Things have never been the same in the CID ever since the fandom took over."

"Well, guess what?" Scarface said briskly, straightening up and rubbing his hands together. "Not anymore. Stand back, both of you."

He exchanged a look with Freckles, and she immediately caught on. Reaching down, she pulled a long bronze knife from a sheath at her belt just as Scarface reached into a pouch that hung from the tool belt he wore, taking out what appeared to be an ordinary whiteboard marker. When he uncapped it, however, it turned into a large, gleaming bronze axe, and Freckles whistled appreciatively. "Sweet. But do you have to split the tree open?" she asked a little sadly, and Scarface shook his head. "Don't worry, nothing of the kind."

With that, he swung the axe, deftly making a slice in the wood of the tree- not too deep, but wide enough for something to be inserted. Freckles stepped forward, lodging the tip of her knife into the gap and wiggling it around, making the opening as big as she could. "Ready, you guys?" she called.

"Ready!" Vineet's voice called back, and Scarface grabbed Freckles by the hand and pulled her back to a safe distance just as a great wind whooshed around the tree. When the wind died down, the translucent, slightly glowing forms of two people materialised in front of them, hovering slightly above the ground. One was a young man, tall and well-built, and the other was a petite young woman with long straight hair and big dark eyes. Both of them glanced down at themselves, then at each other, their faces breaking into huge grins.

"Thank you!" Purvi enthused as she and Vineet beamed at Scarface and Freckles, who smiled back. Their expressions changed quicker than lightning, however, when they were suddenly grabbed by the elbows from behind and spun around to face a dark, grungy-looking man with a pale, jagged scar on his left temple, stretching all the way down to his cheekbone. He was dressed in beaten-up jeans and a threadbare green plaid shirt, with a gun tucked into his waistband. Glaring at them through unruly bangs that fell over his forehead, he folded his arms. "What's the holdup, you two? I assume we made this plan for _today_, right, not next week?"

"Uh, well, Mamu, the thing is-" Scarface started, but was cut off by Purvi's gasp from behind. "Abhijeet sir?" she exclaimed, goggling at the newcomer. Vineet, next to her, looked equally nonplussed, and the man groaned in agitation. "Oh, lord, not again!" He reached up and swept his bangs aside to display the scar on his temple to full advantage. "Here, have a look. Does this look like your dear Abhijeet sir?"

"Maams," Freckles said reasonably, tapping the man on the shoulder to get his attention. "Cut them some slack, they were trapped inside a tree for... years, if I'm not mistaken," she said, glancing over at Purvi and Vineet for confirmation, and they nodded vigorously. "Scarface and I just got them out, that's what caused the holdup."

"Yeah?" The man's eyebrows flipped upwards, disappearing into his bangs which had now become messier than ever thanks to the rough handling. "What are you two, ghosts?"

"Spirits," Scarface piped up helpfully. "You know, like souls?" The man gave him a look, and which he returned with a non-committal shrug. "Just trying to help."

"Right, to clear your confusion, I'm not Abhijeet, I just borrowed his face once and never got around to losing it. The name is Rocky- maybe you've heard of me. One of the greatest criminals the CID's ever encountered? No?" the man asked, glancing back and forth between Vineet and Purvi's confused faces before shrugging carelessly. "Ah well. Anyways, coming back to the point, me and my kids here- well, technically they aren't actually my kids, Scarface is my nephew and Freckles is sort of my adopted goddaughter, I guess you could call it- are here to put an end to what's been going on here for the past few years. And we won't hesitate to use violence if and where necessary. Any questions?"

Four hands shot up in unison, and Rocky narrowed his eyes at Scarface and Freckles, who simpered back at him as they lowered their hands reluctantly. "OK, you know what? All doubts can be cleared on the way. Let's get a move on!" Catching Scarface and Freckles around the shoulders, he steered them firmly towards the back entrance of the bureau as Purvi and Vineet followed, gliding smoothly over the ground.

"Weapons ready?" Rocky whispered as they proceeded further into the bureau, and in response there was a glint of bronze from either side of him. "Great." When they emerged from the darkness, Freckles suddenly gasped and froze in her tracks as she caught sight of something ahead of them. "Is that..."

Before anyone could respond, she had broken free of Rocky's hold and was running towards the faint gleam of metal that shone from a little distance away. Scarface followed her, and Rocky frowned, staring curiously after his wards. "What's with _them?"_

As he drew nearer, however, with Purvi and Vineet behind him, it soon became clear as to what had caused Freckles to react as she did.

Before them was a small, dusty statue, made of the same dull gold metal as the trophies given to school children. It depicted a round-faced boy with scruffy hair, holding hands with a wide-eyed girl whose long wavy hair was tied in a ponytail. The statue was barely three feet off the ground, on a low pedestal with a wooden sign in front. When closely examined, one could see that it read 'Vivek and Tasha, sub-inspectors'. Below that was 'RIP' in bolder letters.

Freckles, who was kneeling before the statue, let out a shuddering breath, her fists clenching and unclenching. Scarface dropped to his knees beside her and gave her a quick one-armed hug, and Rocky sighed and shook his head as he bent down and patted her shoulder. "It's OK, kiddo. They'll get their due once we're done here."

Behind them, Purvi and Vineet exchanged sad looks, and Freckles let out a small sigh before swiftly pulling herself together. Leaning over, she wiped the dust from the statue as best as she could and silently kissed Vivek and Tasha's cold metal foreheads before scrambling to her feet. There was a glint in her eyes that matched that of the knife she carried. "Come on. We have work to do."

Rajat had nearly dozed off along with the girls when he suddenly felt someone shaking him gently. Awakening with a start, he found himself staring up into two completely unfamiliar faces- a scarred boy and a freckled girl, both of whom were looking down at him with concern. "Rajat sir?" the girl asked, anxiety evident in her tone, and Rajat nodded warily, getting to his feet. Freckles bit her lip as she looked at the sleeping children. "We can't leave them," she whispered to Scarface, who looked terse.

Getting to his feet, Rajat waved his hand to get their attention, and looked suspiciously at them as he signed a question. _Who are you two?_

"Just call us Scarface and Freckles," Scarface said, and looked at his watch. "Freckles, we have to hurry. We still need to find the others." Unfortunately, Rocky had chosen that precise moment to enter, and Rajat gave a start, staring at him in shock. "Whoa, mate!" Rocky said hurriedly, quickly displaying his scar. "Not Abhijeet. I'll explain later, first let's go find your friends."

"It's OK, Rajat sir," Vineet said as he and Purvi quickly drifted into the room. "They're here to help."

"Sir, do you know where the others are? Freddy sir... Nikhil, Shreya?" Purvi asked worriedly, and Rajat nodded. _Come with me_, he signed, and everyone followed him, taking care to be as stealthy as possible. Soon, they reached a dingy room at the end of the corridor. The door stood ajar, and Rajat pushed it open to reveal Freddy about to open a bottle of whisky. Hurriedly, Rajat banged on the wall, and Freddy jumped violently in shock, dropping the bottle on the bed. Thankfully, it was still closed. "Rajat sir! You gave me a fright!" he exclaimed, shuddering, and Scarface came forward. "Come on, Freddy sir. Let's get you out of here."

"What?" Freddy asked, looking at him in confusion, and Freckles took over. Approaching Freddy, she took something from her pocket and put it into his hands. "Someone's been waiting for you," she said softly, and Freddy's eyes widened as he looked down at the thing in his hands- it was a very familiar bracelet. "This..." he found himself at a loss for words as tears welled up his eyes. "Where did you get this?" he asked Freckles, who smiled sadly at him. "Before we left, she told me to give it to you so you'd know she's alive. Waiting for you."

That seemed to do something to Freddy, and his face set in determination as he tucked the bracelet in his pocket and straightened up. "Take me to her. I'm ready." In what seemed to be a sudden flash of inspiration, he knelt down, reached under his bed and pulled out his gun. _"At last... my arm is complete again!" _he declared, and Scarface and Freckles discreetly high-fived each other, grinning broadly.

As the group hurried along, Rajat suddenly grabbed Scarface's arm, pointing towards a set of large, fancy double doors right ahead. In there, he signed insistently, and Freddy looked grim. "That's Daya sir's room."

"Then we're definitely going in there," Freckles decided, and everyone quickly changed course, heading towards the doors. "Careful," Freddy cautioned. "Abhi sir is in there with him. It's his feeding time."

Rocky did a double take. "_What_ time?" he exclaimed, and Scarface stepped forwards. "This one I've got to see." With that, he slowly, cautiously eased the doors open. Rocky knelt down, Scarface bent over his uncle and Freckles leaned over Scarface's head, all of them peering into the room through the gap. No sooner had they done so than Rocky let out a colourful expletive. "Shhh!" Freckles hissed, and shook her head as she stared at the sight that met her eyes. "Though I really don't blame you, Maams."

One side wall of Daya's cradle had been lowered, and Abhi was sitting on the edge of Daya's bed, holding a large bowl of some off-white concoction. Tarika sat on the floor beside Abhi, massaging his feet. Daya had his head on Abhi's lap, gazing adoringly up at him and obediently lapping up the food as Abhi fed each spoonful to him.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Scarface in an undertone, sounding revolted, and Freckles squinted through her glasses at what Abhi was feeding Daya. Her suspicions were confirmed, however, when her eyes fell on a cardboard box near Tarika. "Yup. Only the finest culinary delight for our Daya... Cerelac."

"What?" Purvi and Vineet exclaimed in unison, and Rocky shook his head decisively. "That's it. I'm going to throw up." No sooner had Scarface and Freckles jumped away from him, however, than he straightened and kicked the doors open. "Nobody move!" he yelled, and Scarface and Freckles took their positions on either side of him, weapons drawn and ready.

Rajat and Freddy hurried over to where Nikhil and Shreya lay snoring in the corner, and Daya burst into terrified sobs as Purvi and Vineet glided into the room to join them. "WWAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he wailed, and the Cerelac bowl, which had fortunately been emptied by then, went flying as he threw his arms around Abhi's waist, clinging to him and trembling like a leaf. At Abhi's feet, Tarika burst into tears, jumping up and hiding behind her husband, who bestowed his most deadly glower upon the intruding party. "What's going on here?" He then took a good look at Rocky, and his eyes flared up at once. "You!"

"Nice to see you again, old fellow," Rocky said cheerfully, waving to Abhi, then lowered his hand to pull out his gun instead. "Just kidding!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Daya screamed, and Abhi gently disengaged himself from his best friend, roughly pulling away from his wife before jumping to his feet, whipping out his gun and pointing it straight at Rocky. Scarface, who stood next to his uncle, clutched his bronze sword a little tighter, his eyes narrowing. In the corner of the room, Freddy had succeeded in rousing Nikhil and Shreya, who were currently having shocked yet enthusiastic reunions with their respective best friends.

Rajat, meanwhile, was kneeling before Tarika, frantically pleading with her to come away with them. She, however, refused to be moved. "I won't, Rajat!" she shouted at him above Daya's howling. "I won't leave Abhi! I can't live without him!" Tears were streaming down her face, falling into her lap and soaking the pink chiffon of her saree. "Don't you understand? I'm nothing without Abhi! Please don't take me away from him, please! Just let me be! He's my whole world!"

"Rajat sir." Amidst his distress, Rajat felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Freckles frowning down at him. "You can't do anything for her anymore. She's lost to us." She glanced at Tarika and sighed sadly before reaching out and pulling Rajat to his feet. "Come on."

"ABHIIIIII!" Daya wailed, holding out his arms desperately, and Abhi glanced over his shoulder. "Don't worry, baby bro, your big bro won't let anything happen to you." With that, he swung his fist, and Rocky was sent reeling aside. "Mamu!" Scarface yelled, and threw his sword aside, leaping at Abhi with bare hands. "Freckles, get everyone out! I'll hold him off!" he shouted as he narrowly dodged a punch, and Freckles wasted no time. "Freddy sir!" she called across the room, and Freddy herded the juniors out of the room, Freckles shoving Rajat after them just as Rocky dived at Abhi from the side, receiving a swift kick in return.

"What's going on here?" roared a voice from the doorway, and everyone froze as ACP Pradyuman stormed into the room, Dr. Salunkhe at his heels. Seizing the opportunity with both hands, Freckles held her knife aloft. "SILENCE!" she bellowed, and looked straight at the two elderly gentlemen. "ACP sir... Salunkhe sir. We've come here to free you, take you to a place where you can be yourselves again. Where you don't have to live your lives being what people make you into." She paused, letting the full effect of her words sink in. "So... what do you say? You wanna come?"

The senior-most members of the CID exchanged glances, seeming to be having a mental debate. Finally, they both turned to face Freckles, who was watching them with an unreadable expression. "I'm staying here," ACP Pradyuman stated firmly. "With my boys." He looked at Abhi, who smiled back at him, and Daya, who gurgled happily and waved his arms. "Da-da," he cooed.

"As long as Tarika's here, I'll be here," Dr. Salunkhe said simply. "I can't think of leaving her alone with this fellow." He scowled at Abhijeet, who glared back at him. "Daya, you wanna go?" he called, and Daya let out a huge wail once more. Scarface winced, shutting his ears. "Can we get out of here already? Please?" he muttered to Freckles, who rolled her eyes. "I'm not exactly enjoying it either, you know," she informed him quietly.

"No go! No go!" Daya whined, flailing his limbs. He seemed to be fully capable of at least throwing tantrums, if not anything else. His words were punctuated with loud sobs. "I- hic- no leave- sob- Abhi! I- sob- stay wiv my Abhi! Big bwo!"

Rocky scoffed in disgust. "Who even invited you, sissy musclehead?"

"Maams!" Freckles chided, and he gave her an incredulous look. "What? That's what he's become! I mean, just _look_ at him!" He gestured to Daya, who was curled up in a foetal position and glaring at Rocky over the thumb he was diligently sucking. "Baa boy," Daya proclaimed, pointing at Rocky. "Abhi, he baa boy!"

"That he is," Abhi agreed, and spun back around to face Rocky. Instead, however, he found himself facing a large plastic bowl that was flying straight at his head. It collided on impact, bouncing off his skull and landing in Tarika's lap. "Ohh..." Abhi groaned, teetering on the spot slightly, and Freckles made a face at him from the doorway. "Have a nice life, Mr. Perfection!" she called, and the door slammed behind her. ACP Pradyuman and Dr. Salunkhe looked befuddled, and Daya watched Abhi wide-eyed as Tarika blinked down at the empty Cerelac bowl in her lap. "Well, that was... unusual."

Within a few minutes, everyone was piling into a large van that Rocky had driven straight into the bureau's parking lot. "Come on, you," Freckles said from the back of the van, and Scarface grinned at her as he caught her hand and hauled himself up. "We did good, huh?"

"Yup," she said, giving him an affectionate nudge, and Rocky, who was sitting nearby and nursing his wounds, laughed as he watched them. "Save it for when we get back, you two," he snickered, and Scarface and Freckles came over to sit on his either side. "Right, Maams," Freckles said seriously. "As of now you need the _luuuuurve_ more than we do, I guess!" Scarface added, and Rocky burst out laughing as both of them hugged him from either side. "You two, you're impossible!"

"Whoa, what is that?" Freckles demanded suddenly, catching sight of an enormous gold statue near the bureau's entrance, and Shreya rolled her eyes. "Oh, that. Some female called Maya, who apparently gave her life to save Abhi sir. They've made that kind of like a memorial to her. You know, sort of like some idol of true love."

Scarface looked at Freckles, who looked back at him, and both of them met Rocky's gaze. "Oh yeah?" Scarface said. "Idol of true love, eh? You mean like how Adolf Hitler is the idol of world peace?"

Purvi and Vineet were still laughing their heads off when the entire refugee gang arrived at their destination some hours later. "That... was... _priceless!"_ Purvi wheezed, clutching Vineet's shoulders. "Can we do that again some time? Please, guys?" Vineet begged, chuckling.

"Why, once wasn't enough for you?" demanded Scarface, smirking at Vineet over his shoulder as everyone got out of the escape van. "Wow," Nikhil said in awe, looking around. "What is this place?"

"Freddy!" shrieked a voice, and Freddy's face lit up like the moon that shone above them as he dashed towards the lady running out of the large building ahead. As everyone watched Freddy and Manisha's tearful yet joyful reunion, Freckles smiled. "Home."

**~THE END~**

A/N: OK.

I'm sure all of you might have wondered what on earth the point of this story was.

Well... this is just my release. There's no simpler way to put it. It's the world as I see it, and the world as I know it. More specifically... the world of Fanfiction.

I know that over the time I've spent in FF, I've upset a lot of people, made a lot of people disturbed and uncomfortable and angry, all because I just wasn't what everyone wanted. And I'm sorry, but I CAN'T be what everyone wants. Somehow I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried. Which is why I've decided... this is my last story here.

I may have said it many times before, but this time I really mean it. I'll still read stories, I'll still review the stories on which I know for sure my reviews will actually be wanted, and I'll still be around. I'm just not going to post anything anymore. You guys are completely free now. No more of my nonsense. And you won't have the headache of using dictionaries for my stories either (a lot of people have complained about that in the past). Perfect, happy, blissful FF, just the way everyone wants. :)

At this point, I would like to thank everyone who's appreciated me along the way, everyone who's criticised/hated on me (it made me stronger), everyone who's taken my work as an inspiration for their own work, and most of all, the people who have stood by me through all of it. I especially want to thank Originals143 and Metallic Mist for understanding and supporting me as they always have. I love you both.

I would also like to thank my role model and inspiration, Ms. Joanne Kathleen Rowling, who played a big role in making me who I am today, who was the reason I ever started writing in the first place. My idol and heroine, Ms. Helena Bonham Carter, for giving me the courage to speak my mind and do exactly what I want, and for teaching me that being myself is far better than being anything else. My favourite cricketer, Mr. Kumar Sangakkara, just for that knockout sunshine smile of his... heaven knows it's gotten me through countless difficult times. And finally, my friends, the amazing and brilliant street animals who have made an impact in my life- Pedro, Domino, Alejandro, Carmen, Ken, Midori, Puppy and most recently, Khushi. I love you all, maybe not in equal measure but pretty darn close.

As the King of whom I am a loyal (but not blind) subject once said... "Hum hain rahi pyaar ke, phir milenge chalte chalte."

Thank you all. _/\_

~Poesia-Raro


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